Etienne and Heda walked in comfortable familiarity. He hadn't known her well, but that she knew his auntie. He was already fine with her. He hoped Ava as he had come to find her name, hadn't made a turn for the worse.
Etienne made it to the borders and looked to
@Widow Redhawk unsure. He shifted. And blinked.
You ready? I can call @Anselm.
he would allow her to gather herself before he truly lifted his nose in a howl.
"call him." she was half-frozen and stiff with cold, her body crying for respite. her pinched flanks shivered as she started to glance around for this anselm, unconsciously pressing closer to etienne for both warmth and mediation.
and despite what her scent had begun to signal, there was no thought of it now in her mind.
Eti eyed her with concern. He shouldn't have forced her to walk so far. But she had been adamant he take her to her daughter. And thus he had complied.
Eti shifted to offer her more of his warmth and to shield her from the displeasure he was sure he would wrought with this visit. Possibly even lose his own favor with Anselm. All the months of trying to build some semblance of normalcy maybe dashed.
Etienne was still bothered by her scent. It made him itchy and uncomfortable, but she hadn't tried anything. Thank the gods. Because how do you tell a woman. hey im just not that into you, cause well you're a woman you didn't that's how.
He steadied her one last time and then lifted his nose in a lyrical howl.
A howl cut through the glade, summoning Anselm with its lyrical notes. He wondered what it was this time. Perhaps the girl was dead. The dark thought took even him by surprise.
Finding Etienne propping up the very woman that razed his hide, Anselm’s eyes widened in slow recognition and fueled hate.
His muzzle split into a silent snarl, the creases and cuts on his face scarcely healed enough for such a gesture. He looked to them both for explanation, feeling the fur along his hackles rake.
etienne was responsive, and the touch of his soft eyes made her feel seen. heard. their familiarity with one another deepened in those moments before anselm appeared.
the energy was immediately charged with jangling electricity — her ears flattened and her own teeth flashed in answer.
"i'm here for my daughter. where is she?" heda snapped, the red stripe risen in jagged flares from tip to tail. another moment and she would push away from etienne to search for ava herself.
Eti gave a soft tsk in his throat. Easy Widow.
Demands would make Anselm angry and unwilling to be of assistance. It was how he was.
'er is de modder of de little girl. 'Er would like 'er back. But can't just waltz into territory.
He frowned. Ava s'ouldn't be moved, but if dey are careful and slow. Per'aps.
Anselm's fur prickled with energy. When the widow's teeth flashed he answered in a rumbling growl, an assertive step forward. She was in his own territory, with a show of teeth! Umbrage darkened his face, threading needles of irritation along every blade of fur.
Etienne was, as always, the voice of reason. It was him alone that stayed Anselm's hand -- had he not been there, Anselm might have coursed for the widow's hide a second time. Vhat kind of mother loses their child?
His lips curled back in a jagged scowl. Take her, and fuck off.
surely she was better than whoever had raised this scathing welp. heda quieted but nothing of her reared hackles nor visible tension had eased.
she pulled her eyes from anselm's twisted face back to etienne. "what do you mean she can't be moved? will you take me to her?" breathless, the shadow of a plead beneath it as she tried not to glance toward the heavy presence again.
Etienne winced at the cruel callous words that fell from Anselm's hide. And he really should say something. For a momwnt he weighed the pros and cons of doing so. However, if he were to make a firmer stance. Then maybe she might not get her child and that wasn't okay so he stayed his tongue.
Etienne sighed. 'er can be, but it may make her recovery longer. I will take you to 'er.
He looked to Anselm. And then motioned her towards the area he kept the girl.
As much as Anselm felt he hated the widow in this moment, he was not so cruel as to deny her right to her child. Doing so would serve little purpose to him. He assumed the sooner they were reunited, the sooner they would be out of the Hollow and out of his hair.
He didn't like that the girl took their limited resources. He liked even less that it seemed these days, the Hollow served as self-service pantry to a host of vagrants. First
@Raindrop, then
@Fiona - but at least those two seemed self sufficient.
He glowered at the widow, but said nothing. Etienne shared a glance with him briefly before he sped off to the den the girl was housed.
the moment that she could see ava, heda began to cry; she rushed forward and almost gathered the girl to her chest, but etienne's warning about moving the injured daughter rang in her mind.
and so she settled for kissing the soft forehead, closing her eyes for a moment of prayer. but these moments she no longer shared.
"how long does she need to get better?" heda asked at last, looking up for etienne only.
Etienne felt his own eyes fill with twars at the reunion, but he kept his mouth closed and said nothong. Almost felt like an intruder upon mother and daughter.
'er 'ead 's'ould 'eal up enuff in 3 to 5 days. If 'er 'ad a concussion w'ic' is injury inside. 'Er will be tired, dizzy and sore. We just 'ave keep an eye on 'er. It 'as already been a couple days so if you really wanted to and sre careful 'er could be moved. But i don't recommend.
Anselm settled behind the pair, his gaze resting on the girl. The stupid, inconvenient girl.
He wanted to hold it against Etienne that he brought her back to the Hollow. But that very generosity was what fascinated Anselm about Etienne; how was his heart so open?
They spoke in hushed tones, as if afraid to awaken the girl. Anselm sensed rather than saw the shaky emotion shared between Etienne and the widow. His heart flared with a stab of jealousy, but he kept composure, allowing them to speak amongst themselves until he realized what Etienne had said.
Three to five days?! In his home? He shook his ruff and stood.
There vill be no handouts.
Anselm growled, pointedly looking at the widow. If she stays here, you feed her and yourself. And you feed him, too.
Anselm motioned to Etienne, drawing a cold stare in the widow's direction that dared her to challenge him while he stood over her perfectly vulnerable, perfectly assailable little girl.
she was beginning to hate anselm, an emotion that did not sit well with her godlier sense of self. he was too close; she tried to listen to etienne and received the gist.
she would need to stay.
anselm was up and flashing his hard tone again, ordering her about. "i do not need anything from you. i can hunt," she said to etienne. "so can the man with me. you'll get your hunting done."
she refused to look at anselm, to react more; she kept herself close to ava and waited for an answer.
Etienne knew that Anselm wouldn't like it and he was proven right as he leapt to the offensive or defensive. At this point Eti wasnt sure anymore.
Èske mwen gade enkapab? mwen ka chase tèt mwen. Mwen pa yon chay.
He huffed, realizing he had slipped into his own language proof he was getting a little irritated.
I can 'unt if 'er can take care of de girl and 'erself. You tire 'er out too, 'er will get down like 'er daodder.
A similar emotion to the widow's distilled in Anselm's blood, but Anselm had no vision of godlier pursuits, and embraced the dark emotion. He flared with stifled anger. Everything about this situation irritated him.
Etienne strung out a jumble of foreign words. Anselm shifted, losing part of the fire that had smoldered in his chest moments before.
It was rekindled by the widow's words. Vrong. You use my home as your hospital. You use my hunter as your nanny. Things you need, and you vill repay us for them.
He realized she'd spoken of a man. Vhat man?
"and i have already said that i will, anselm," heda said in a tight tone heedful of her tenuous presence here. she couldn't move ava and she couldn't take her home. but if she could catch this brute off guard it would be worth so much.
etienne's loud words were familiar in their resonance; she glanced to him in grateful surprise.
"i have a man with me and another daughter. our pack is scattered." her eyes were cold. "we'll all come here, we'll hunt till ava is well, and then we'll go. you won't see us again."
or —
from the depths of her mind she summoned something mireille had said enough times for her to remember. "mèsi, etienne."
or — now she looked full on anselm, into his hateful face, with a stare that said i know what you want.
and godly or not, shamed or not, heda was prepared to barter anything that bought peace and time for ava to heal.
Etienne blink3d in surprise when she threw some of his language at him. He looked to Anselm, feeling strangely guilty. But for what he had done nothing wrong, had he?
He wasn't privycto the silent bsttle of wills the two were getting into, but he was a little thrown by there being more.
He frowned. He hadn't smelled anymore, but perhaps they were far spread.
A sandy ear tilted as he let the two battle.
Anselm resented hearing his name in her mouth. It soured him further, eliciting a curl of his lips in silent response.
He liked that she spoke the lyrical language of Etienne’s home even less. His ears cupped forward, a surprised glance given the healer’s way to measure his reaction.
She came with a coven. Would they bleed his stores dry and then up and leave, as Raindrop had done? Anselm opened his home up before, albeit reluctantly — and in the end he’d been right with his instincts.
He stood still, aware of the hard gaze of the widow pressed upon him. What was it she wanted to say now?
the moment passed.
heda glanced back into ava's face, all of her seized by a raging grief that settled into her bones.
and then her arms gently loosened though the reluctance was in all of her, visible. angry. she laid ava back upon the comfort of the den and then stood with a bone-wearied sigh.
the glance he had given etienne would feed her on the way home. "i'm going to leave now and get them. please watch her; please — call to me if anything —"
not again, not again; she looked between the two to see if there was any resistance to her statement and if there was none, heda meant to leave now, and quickly.
Etienne dipped his. I'll keep an eye on 'er.
Then he settled to his haunches to do just that. He didn't understand the silent conversation she and Anselm had. And it made him uneasy. As if he were a bystander to something made real. And it chafed.
But right now a young girl needed more of his sttention than either Widow or Anselm.
He ruminated in his own thoughts while the Widow bent to her child. Her prolonged look would bother him for some time. He tucked it in the back of his mind, thumbing over it with a troubled scowl.
When she rose, he stiffened. As much as he loathed her in that moment, he was not so cruel as to hurt a child. At least, not yet.
Feeling that unspoken implication in the air, Anselm stood alongside Etienne. While the healer sat, Anselm studied the still form of the girl in silence.
She looked so very different than the woman he’d pinned to the ground. Shame rose in smoky tendrils around his heart, curdling the last of his good will.
He wanted to break the silence that threatened to puncture the tenuous bond that he and Etienne had painfully established, but in that moment nothing came. With nothing to say, Anselm cast a long glance Etienne’s way before he rounded his shoulders in a shrug and strode off.